A large multitude was seen gathering to demand for justice on the ill-fated killing of George Floyd after being pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer.
“We’re here to let them know this can’t be tolerated, there will be severe consequences if they continue to kill us this will not go on another day,” a protestor told Minneapolis station WCCO, as demonstrators were seen chanting “It could have been me” and “I can’t breathe.”
That policeman who knelt on Floyd’s neck is identified as Derek Chauvin, and he was one of four fired by the Minneapolis Police Department over Floyd’s death. Another officer at the scene was identified as Tou Thao, while the names of the other two have not yet been publicly released, according to station KTSP.
Demonstrators who were pleased over the firing of the cops, but want the officers to face the wrath of justice by being charged and convicted.
John Thompson, a community activist and friend of Philando Castile, a man whose brutal shooting was streamed live on Facebook by his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds in the Minneapolis suburb of Falcon Heights in 2016, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, “Let’s be clear: This is murder,” he said. “I don’t want to be labeled the angry black man — I should be able to have that emotion. I’m angry. Wouldn’t you be?”
The fatal incident happened on Monday (May 25), when police were called to investigate an alleged forgery. The officials then told the Star-Tribune that Floyd’s resistance to arrest prompted the coercion of officers on him.
The gruesome incident was clearly caught on video, and immediately went viral on social media simultaneously with the news of a white woman in New York’s Central Park who called police on. a Black man who asked her to leash her dog.
The protest in Minneapolis moved through the streets of the neighborhood, turning toward the local police precinct. But as the crowd grew, police began firing tear gas at them scatter the gathering.
It has been reported by the Star-Tribune that Floyd’s family is being represented by attorney Benjamin Crump, who also represents the families of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.
“This abusive, excessive and inhumane use of force cost the life of a man who was being detained by the police for questioning about a nonviolent charge,” read a statement from Crump’s office.
Floyd’s sister Bridget Floyd told GMA that the firings of the officers is “not enough” for her or the family. “I feel like those guys need to be put in jail,” she said. “They murdered my brother, they killed him. They don’t need to walk the streets and mess around and this happens to another family.
They need to apply more pressure on these guys,” she continued. “Firing them is just not enough.”
In an emotional press statement by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, he deeply expressed his grief over Floyd’s killing.
“What we saw was horrible, completely and utterly messed up,” Frey said. “This man’s life matters. He matters. He was someone’s son, someone’s family member, someone’s friend. He was a human being and his life matters. Whatever the investigation reveals, it does not change the simple truth that he should be with us this morning.”
Frey then called on Hennepin County, Minnesota prosecutor Mike Freeman to criminally charge Chauvin with Floyd’s killing.
“There are precedents and protocols sitting in the reserves of institutions just like this one that would give you about a thousand reasons not to do something, not to speak out, not to ask so quickly, and I’ve wrestled with that more than anything else over the last 36 hours, with one fundamental question: Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?” Frey said Wednesday afternoon (May 27) according to the Star-Tribune. “If you had done it or I had done it we would be behind bars right now and I cannot come up with an answer to that question.”
